What’s On around Ireland

This exhibition presents a selection of both historic and newly acquired abstract artworks from the permanent Waterford Art Collection. Alongside artworks can also be found archival information, newspaper cuttings, and descriptions from the artists themselves, as well as critique by a cross-section of individuals invited and interested in demystifying this still often divisive visual language.

Artworks on show by: Arthur Armstrong, Shelia Naughton, Colin Middleton, Aidan Dunne, Phoebe Donovan, Julie Cusack, Anne Yeats, Susan Connolly, Ciara Rodgers, Jonathan Wade, Susan Montgomery, Darragh Lyons, Evie Hone, John McHarg and more…

A screening of Marie Brett’s Yes, But Do You Care? forms the starting point for a conversation between Brett, Damien McGlynn (Create), Ray Cregan (DCCN), Helen Carey (Director, National Sculpture Factory), Francis Halsall (Co-director MA Art in the Contemporary world) & Catherine Abbott (Art & Health Manager, Arts Council). The event examines how audiences encounter complex, durational & care-led work; how participation & perception are shaped by context, time & responsibility; & how artists navigate the ethical, aesthetic & structural conditions of socially engaged practice today.
To Book: https://imma.ticketsolve.com/shows/873681788/events

The winners of both awards will be announced at the opening of the exhibition on Thursday, 12 February 2026.

This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to experience – and for discerning collectors, to acquire – the finest work from Ireland’s most exciting new generation of painters.

2026 Shortlisted Artists: Maya Brezing · Mantas Poderys · Matthew Strickland · Liam Murray · Salvatore of Lucan · Owen de Forge · Manar Mervat Al Shouha · Eileen Leonard Sealy · Conor O’Connell · Daniel Coleman

During a time of cultural exchange and celebration in Dublin, the Auspicious Eight Art Exhibition, brought to you by A Takeaway Collective, aims to enlighten attendees of the Dublin Lunar New Years festivities with a selection of artists who have connections to the Lunar New Year and are contemporary contributors to Irish visual arts. These artists have roots in tradition yet still move forward in the contemporary realm while recognising Ireland as their home. Opening night is Thursday 12 Feb from 6pm to 9pm. Tea and biscuits will be available! Look forward to seeing you there.

Filial Love is an intimate exhibition that brings together sculpture, video and wall-mounted works to explore nature through the lens of familial bonds. The exhibition is anchored by a freestanding central installation: a full-length, human-scaled, floral resin cloak, positioned in dialogue with a granite boulder. These elements form a meditation on protection, labour and enduring care – personal, generational and ecological.

Inhale Exhale – Ecologies That Refuse to Behave is an ambitious solo exhibition by artist Fiona McDonald, unfolding as a quiet insurgency staged through peatlands, sensors, and slow code. Across the project, McDonald hijacks the tools of climate science – flux towers, CO₂ sensors, automated chambers – and reroutes them into something they were never designed for: ecological intimacy. Developed through years embedded with the National Parks and Wildlife Service NPWS, these instruments are treated not as neutral data-harvesting devices but as collaborators, shaped by shared data, trust, and sustained attention.

Key Learnings… presents nine artists whose practice incorporates commodity culture, taking in branding, mass-market imagery, retail style, the domestic, advertising and packaging.

Noel Hensey   /   Caroline McCarthy   /   Emily Mc Gardle / Aideen Barry   /   Asha Murray   /   Liliane Puthod   /   Amy McNamara   /   David Timmons   /   Richard Collier.

In this compelling body of new work, Walkways of the M50, O’Reilly turns his attention to the routes incorporated into the M50’s design to enable pedestrian access over or under its constant torrent of roaring traffic. O’Reilly’s paintings present the quiet and stillness of pedestrian spaces within noisy environments built to accommodate vehicles. The M50 is a city fringe. Overlooked edge-lands where urban and rural meet. Homogeneous yet local, landscapes of tension and banality, with a wide abundance of textural variety.

‘Cornerstone’- Graduate Exhibition Showcase 2026.

Outset Gallery is pleased to present Cornerstone, the first exhibition of our 2026 programme, opening on Friday 13 February, 6.00–9.00pm.

Cornerstone showcases the work of eight graduates selected through Outset Gallery’s 2025 Graduate Open Call, representing leading art colleges across Ireland. Working across painting, sculpture, video, film, and photography, the exhibition highlights the breadth of talent and ambition emerging from recent graduating classes.

Join us on Friday 13 February, 6–9pm, to celebrate the opening with complimentary refreshments and music from an emerging DJ. Free.

The Glucksman’s sensory-friendly mornings are designed to offer a more comfortable experience for neurodivergent visitors, people with sensory differences or disabilities, or anyone who would benefit from a calm and quiet environment.

What you can expect:

Reduced sensory input: Dimmed lights, no loud noises.

Calm atmosphere: Fewer visitors, reduced noise, and staff trained in autism awareness.

Sensory supports: Access to sensory bags with ear defenders and fidget toys.

Preparation tools: Social stories available to help you prepare and navigate.

Find out more on our website. Booking required.

An exhibition exchange between Belfast and Boston that looks at how place affects how we see art and each other. The exhibition invites people to think about difference, understanding, and shared experience through prints, collage, animations, drawings, sculptures and videos. Curated by Sam Toabe and Sarah McAvera, it asks if artworks can change meaning when shown in different countries and cultures. The works by artists connected to the University of Massachusetts Boston explore themes such as identity, work, migration, time, and loss. The exhibition encourages open thinking, empathy, and conversation across borders.

Fall in love with art this Valentine’s Day
Join us for the launch of four incredible local female artists bringing gothic lampshades, bold mixed-media, ceramics, sculpture and dreamy original artwork into the shop for a brand-new exhibition.
Featuring:
Aya Beatrice (Twilight Shades) – gothic lampshades
Fleur Jackson – paintings & sculpture
Jane Mawson (The School House Pottery) – ceramics
Kate Broderick – mixed-media art
Browse affordable prints, small pieces and statement originals — perfect for Valentine’s, Galentine’s, Mother’s Day or treating yourself.
From 2–4pm, enjoy a live performance by Ursula Burns plus drinks & nibbles!

Caravaggio’s masterpieces are some of art’s most instantly recognisable. No one else uses his signature blend of dramatic light, intense naturalism and bold, striking figures. His astonishing paintings have captivated audiences for centuries. But there lies a deeper mystery – one that still beckons us to explore. What do these masterpieces reveal about the man behind the brush? The intriguing self-depictions within his works – sometimes disguised, sometimes in plain sight – offer a rare window into his psyche and personal struggles.

This film unravels the story of one of history’s most brilliant, complex and controversial figures.

Wexford Arts Centre is pleased to present Gvozdene Kapije (The Iron Gates), an exhibition of new sculpture and film work by Barbara Knežević. The exhibition will run in the lower and upper galleries from Saturday, 14th February, to Friday, 20th March, 2026.

Gvozdene Kapije / The Iron Gates brings together film and sculpture to explore the histories, stories, and materiality of a region in eastern Serbia known as Gvozdene Kapije — a deep gorge at Đerdap on the Danube River, forming the border between Serbia and Romania.

The exhibition was funded by the Arts Council with the support of Solstice Arts Centre and the National Sculpture Factory.

Exhibition continues from 31/01/2026 to 07/03/2026.

Deliberate/Deliberate brings together the work of Alastair Keady and Helen O’Sullivan, Through constraint, repetition, and attentiveness to process, the work considers how meaning can emerge slowly; through structure and deviation, articulation and restraint.  Approaching making as a reflective process and a cultivated sensibility.

A screening of Marie Brett’s Yes, But Do You Care? forms the starting point for a conversation between Brett, Damien McGlynn (Create), Ray Cregan (DCCN), Helen Carey (Director, National Sculpture Factory), Francis Halsall (Co-director MA Art in the Contemporary world) & Catherine Abbott (Art & Health Manager, Arts Council). The event examines how audiences encounter complex, durational & care-led work; how participation & perception are shaped by context, time & responsibility; & how artists navigate the ethical, aesthetic & structural conditions of socially engaged practice today.
To Book: https://imma.ticketsolve.com/shows/873681788/events

Featuring: Kirstin Arndt, Alan Butler, John Cronin, Electronic Sheep, Damien Flood, Mark Joyce, Niamh McCann, Caroline McCarthy, Fergus Martin, Bridget Riley, Nigel Rolfe, Oisin Tozer, Luke van Gelderen, Emily Waszak

The Master of Fine Art 2024-2026 Cohort invites you to the showing their final artworks in a pop-up style exhibition at the Limerick School of Art and Design, Clare Street. Starting on January 28th and running through February 13th, various artwork and discussions from these artists will be on display during college open hours in three different spaces – the Confessional Space, Main Lecture Theatre, and the Elevator Foyer. All are welcome to visit!

‘Cornerstone’- Graduate Exhibition Showcase 2026.

Outset Gallery is pleased to present Cornerstone, the first exhibition of our 2026 programme, opening on Friday 13 February, 6.00–9.00pm.

Cornerstone showcases the work of eight graduates selected through Outset Gallery’s 2025 Graduate Open Call, representing leading art colleges across Ireland. Working across painting, sculpture, video, film, and photography, the exhibition highlights the breadth of talent and ambition emerging from recent graduating classes.

Join us on Friday 13 February, 6–9pm, to celebrate the opening with complimentary refreshments and music from an emerging DJ. Free.

We are pleased to announce an incredible solo-exhibition featuring Lorcan Cassidy. We are still working away on our new space- we’re nervous, we’re hopeful but most of all we’re excited. Here’s to our launch and an incredible artist:

Lorcan Cassidy is a visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland. He graduated from NCAD with a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Sculpture and Expanded practices and is currently a member of BKB Visual Arts Studio in Glasnevin, Dublin.

Exhibition continues from the 2nd of October to the 14th of February 2026

Exhibition of paintings from over five decades of work by the prolific Irish painter, Michael Cullen (1946-2020). Cullen, a member of the Irish Academy of the Arts, Aosdána, was prominently associated with the Independent Artists and the Neo-Expressionist movement in Ireland in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Hymn to Him is a guilty pleasure, a sustained glance at the relationship between the unstable and convoluted lives of artists and the composed stillness of the characters they create. In her painting and photographic work, she lingers on the surfaces of things – bellies, primroses, house keys, vegetables. Costello inserts herself into her compositions and, as her own model, she remains in control of both sides of the canvas.

Waking the Land is a collective based in Leitrim. Our five members are Tara Baoth Mooney, Shane Finan, James Kelly, Laura McMorrow, and Sonya Swarte. We collectively occupy an artist-led studio and experimental space in Manorhamilton that opened in September 2022. Over the past three years, we have led events in north Leitrim in response to environmental grief, care, and tending to the land.

Clare Arts Office in conjunction with Cultúrlann Sweeney is delighted to present ‘The Heart of the Ocean” an exhibition by Beata Rosik.

Photography has been her passion since arriving in Ireland. While her portfolio includes landscapes from Clare and across Ireland, her greatest artistic focus is fine art portrait photography.

Clare Arts Office in conjunction with Clare Museum is delighted to present “Song and Dance” an art exhibition at the Clare Museum by Fiona Faulkes.
Fiona Faulkes works with oil, painting what she sees, landscapes, portraits and how she feels, abstract, conceptual.
She is also a classical pianist and music weaves through her art whether she’s painting musicians, characters from operas or her own manuscript.

Clare Arts Office in conjunction with the Edna O’Brien Library in Scariff is delighted to present “Passage” by the Artist John Stokes.
Like most children John was a creative force. Like most children, that fell away as his education progressed. By the time he left school it had vanished under the stress of exam competition. Unlike many, a personal tragedy, the death of both his father and brother at the same time, opened him up again. The Creative process was the only way that he could access, to navigate through the ocean of Grief, where he found himself. Creativity is now a natural strand of his Being.

The Glucksman’s sensory-friendly mornings are designed to offer a more comfortable experience for neurodivergent visitors, people with sensory differences or disabilities, or anyone who would benefit from a calm and quiet environment.

What you can expect:

Reduced sensory input: Dimmed lights, no loud noises.

Calm atmosphere: Fewer visitors, reduced noise, and staff trained in autism awareness.

Sensory supports: Access to sensory bags with ear defenders and fidget toys.

Preparation tools: Social stories available to help you prepare and navigate.

Find out more on our website. Booking required.

Caravaggio’s masterpieces are some of art’s most instantly recognisable. No one else uses his signature blend of dramatic light, intense naturalism and bold, striking figures. His astonishing paintings have captivated audiences for centuries. But there lies a deeper mystery – one that still beckons us to explore. What do these masterpieces reveal about the man behind the brush? The intriguing self-depictions within his works – sometimes disguised, sometimes in plain sight – offer a rare window into his psyche and personal struggles.

This film unravels the story of one of history’s most brilliant, complex and controversial figures.

Exhibition continues from 21/01/2026 to 14/02/2026.

Dorothy Cross’s Bloodlines series comprises unique works that layer archival photographs with hand-poured, red-veined glass. Taken by the artist’s father in the 1940s, these images reveal an inherited fascination with the sea—a personal history caught within a geological frame.

Opening reception Thursday 05 February, 5.30-7.30pm.

Anna Barden was an artist who worked and lived in Cork city. She passed away unexpectedly on 31 December 2024. This commemorative exhibition is a shared initiative involving family, friends and colleagues, with key involvement from Elaine Coakley, Studio Director, Backwater Artists Group; Katherine Boucher Beug, artist, friend and mentor; and Gillian Cussen, artist and friend. Anna’s art practice encompassed drawing, painting sewing, short text pieces and ceramics. The display is built around a variety of finished works, studies and archival material spanning Anna’s career.

Fall in love with art this Valentine’s Day
Join us for the launch of four incredible local female artists bringing gothic lampshades, bold mixed-media, ceramics, sculpture and dreamy original artwork into the shop for a brand-new exhibition.
Featuring:
Aya Beatrice (Twilight Shades) – gothic lampshades
Fleur Jackson – paintings & sculpture
Jane Mawson (The School House Pottery) – ceramics
Kate Broderick – mixed-media art
Browse affordable prints, small pieces and statement originals — perfect for Valentine’s, Galentine’s, Mother’s Day or treating yourself.
From 2–4pm, enjoy a live performance by Ursula Burns plus drinks & nibbles!

This exhibition is the first of two shows, a new body of work by Kirsty Bell that marks the end point in her Freelands Studio Fellowship at Ulster University. The Freelands Studio Fellowship is an annual programme that places eight artists in studios within partner universities across the UK, fostering a symbiotic relationship between teaching and artistic practice. The second show will be held within the University in March.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is delighted to present Lucid Dreaming, dlr Open Exhibition of visual art by artists who have studied in, are originally from, or are living or working in the County. Artists were invited to submit work on the theme Lucid Dreaming. The exhibition is selected and curated by Royal Hibernian Academy Curator, Davey Moor, through an open submission process. The exhibition is accompanied by a Gallery Learning Programme.

Image credits: Eimear Carvill, Tranquility 1, 2025

The Architecture of Containment brings together a body of paintings by Janet Graham with poetic responses from invited poets, addressing the physical, social, and psychological architectures through which lives were controlled and silenced in Ireland’s institutional past. The project is hosted and funded by Mill Cove Gallery and presented as a not-for-profit public event.

Once production costs are met, all proceeds from the accompanying poetry anthology will be donated to a survivors’ support group. The anthology will be available on the evening for €10.

During a time of cultural exchange and celebration in Dublin, the Auspicious Eight Art Exhibition, brought to you by A Takeaway Collective, aims to enlighten attendees of the Dublin Lunar New Years festivities with a selection of artists who have connections to the Lunar New Year and are contemporary contributors to Irish visual arts. These artists have roots in tradition yet still move forward in the contemporary realm while recognising Ireland as their home. Opening night is Thursday 12 Feb from 6pm to 9pm. Tea and biscuits will be available! Look forward to seeing you there.

Opens Thursday 15 January, 6–8:30pm
Runs until 19 February, 2026

‘sing me to where silence weeps’ is a solo display of work by Patrick Hickey exploring portrayals of men within Irish visual culture.

Now in its ninth year, our annual Emergence exhibition provides a valuable and professional platform for recent graduates at a transitional stage in their career. Collectively, the selected works demonstrate the diverse range of talent and media explored at Belfast School of Art. Graduate artists are selected by QSS studio representatives.

Clare Arts Office invites you to the launch of HeART of Gaza, an exhibition showcasing artwork made by Palestinian children, platforming their voice and experience.

The exhibition will be opened by Féile Butler,
HeART of Gaza Co-Founder on Saturday 17th January at 2pm in Súil Gallery, Ennis.

The exhibition runs from January 15th – February 19th. All Welcome.

Exhibition continues from 22/01/2026 to 20/02/2026.

PORTALS explores painting as a threshold, a space where time, perception and matter are in continual flux. Through processes of layering, erasure and return, the works evolve as sites of crossing rather than representation. Spaces expand and contract, forms dissolve and re-emerge, and time gathers in the surface of the canvas.
Drawing on multiple spatial registers, the bodily, the natural, the digital and the cosmic, van der Elsen’s paintings create layered fields where memory, sensation and perception intersect. Each work functions as a portal: an invitation to move beyond the familiar into a wider, more fluid field of experience.

Exhibition continues from 23/01/2026 to 20/02/2026.

Let me tell you a story… mice will dance, plates will be wiped with a cat’s tail, and people will eat goosegrass. Combining the natural, the unnatural, and the supernatural; the inherent weirdness of Irish seanfhocail is often overlooked. Humans interact with animals, animals interact with each other, and plants become entangled with humans.
The screenprints, drawings, and sculptures in this exhibition are part of a body of work created by Emily McGardle over the past three years. This work reflects the strong visual imagery present in seanfhocail while highlighting the connection between people, nature, and the Irish language.

Ormston House presents ‘Table Turning’, a solo exhibition by Susan MacWilliam.

Since 1997, Susan MacWilliam has had an ongoing fascination with how humans have sought to document and quantify the spirit realm. She explores the study of psychic phenomena by drawing from printed archives, scientific apparatus, and interviews with experts.

This exhibition of new work has emerged out of the cutting, stitching, and moulding of paper, felt, and clay. For MacWilliam, “the realisation of ideas and objects in the studio” is akin to “the manifestations and materialisations of the séance room”.

Ormston House is open Wednesday to Saturday, 12–6pm.

Walls of Containment
an Exhibition of Photography by David Killeen at Presentation Arts Centre
Opening 10th January 2026 2pm
Running 11th January 2026 – 21st February 2026

This exhibition of photography by David Kileen documents twenty-one psychiatric hospitals (mental asylums) across the Republic of Ireland. Constructed between 1814 and 1922 they represent one of the largest public programs ever undertaken in Ireland.

Exhibition continues from 08/01/2026 to 21/02/2026.

Denis O Connor’s exhibition ‘In My Time’ presents a number of sculptural works which bring together different narratives, which are in part autobiographical, they explore references around loss, sadness and longing. The sculptures reflect on elements of his own cultural and personal histories from growing up in Ireland in the 1960’s, to living in two countries and asking the question ‘where is home’ with reference to emigration, adoption, memory, and landscape.

Three artists, Sheena Devitt, Rozzi Kennedy and Rosalind Lowry, investigate their moment of illumination through the processes of painting, sculpture and installation.
Rooted in the lands across the three Counties of Antrim, Armagh and Down, and finding strength in the gentleness of slowing down, they present their life stages, their inspiration, and their works of ensoulment.
Embracing the slow rhythms of Winter as a productive time. Their choice to withdraw from the exterior world to focus on an inner world of creating, preparing, investigating, incubating, illuminating and evaluating.
An exhibition celebrating women, their rites of passage

Siobhan McDonald’s multifaceted project explores Dublin’s deep history as a mutable landscape shaped by water, cosmology, and human intervention. 

Through film, sound, painting, and sculpture, the installation investigates how the city’s shifting ground holds memory and resilience. PASSAGE traces the interdependence of human and more-than-human worlds, revealing the city as a living organism.

By weaving together soundscapes, imagery, and environmental research, McDonald offers a meditation on place and change — a reminder that the boundaries between solid and fluid, human and elemental, are always in motion.

The Ramelton Art Group, founded by Mary Lynch in 2019, meets weekly in Ramelton Town Hall, where creativity and community come together. 

Working mainly in oil on canvas, the group’s exhibition also includes a selection of pastel works. The paintings range from realistic to abstract, capturing landscapes and skyscapes that stretch from Donegal to Cork — scenes that have sparked both imagination and emotion among the artists.

Join us at GOMA Waterford for the launch of Shapeshifting: GOMA Waterford Graduate Award Exhibition 2026 on Thursday 29 January, 6–8pm. All welcome!

Each year GOMA Waterford aims to highlight the wealth of talent graduating annually in Ireland by awarding selected graduates with an exhibition. This year’s Graduate Award Exhibition features the work of three outstanding recent graduates; Danny Foley, Tanja Novacic and Patrick Penney.

Running until Saturday 21 February 2026 | Gallery opening hours: 11am–5pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

Exhibition continues from 22/01/2026 to 21/02/2026.

Three artists, Sheena Devitt, Rozzi Kennedy and Rosalind Lowry, investigate their moment of illumination through the processes of painting, sculpture and installation.

Rooted in the lands across the three Counties of Antrim, Armagh and Down, and finding strength in the gentleness of slowing down, they present their life stages, their inspiration, and their works of ensoulment.

Embracing the slow rhythms of Winter as a productive time. Their choice to withdraw from the exterior world to focus on an inner world of creating, preparing, investigating, incubating, illuminating and evaluating.

Exhibition continues from 22/01/2026 to 21/02/2026.

Kim Montgomery is a visual artist whose work combines figurative representational drawing, painting and collage, with real and imagined autobiographical narratives.

She observes and gathers sources from life, personal photographs, and collected ephemera – exploring romanticism for the throwaway treasure, and the space between memory and aspiration.

Exhibition continues from 29/01/2026 to 21/02/2026.

Taylor Galleries presents Daphne’s Theatre, a new exhibition by Dublin-based multidisciplinary artist Beatrice O’Connell. The exhibition features paintings in which nature has begun to take over, suggesting a fragile balance where decay and renewal coexist.
Drawing on the myth of Daphne and informed by the work of Samuel Beckett, O’Connell combines painting, photography, and mixed-media collage. Recurrent motifs of scaffolding and derelict structures reflect on the instability of systems designed to endure, while nature emerges as a transformative force.

Picasso lived surrounded by his art. His personal life and his work, his homes and his studios were always intimately linked. The exhibition places Picasso in the context of his studios, highlighting the various facets and phases of his art and life. It will explore the key locations that defined him, from his arrival in Paris at the start of the twentieth century to his studio in Mas Notre-Dame de Vie (1961-1973) in Mougins. The exhibition will feature paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and works on paper, as well as photographic and audio-visual works.

Join us for the opening of Parallel Lands, an exhibition that brings together new works by Newfoundland artists Michael Flaherty, Susan Furneaux, and Kym Greeley, curated by Philippa Jones. This exhibition is part of the international partnership between Artlink (Donegal, Ireland) and CRUX (Newfoundland, Canada), exploring the deep connections between Ireland and Newfoundland — lands divided by the Atlantic, yet bound by parallel histories of settlement, loss, resilience, and belonging.
Through ceramics, fibre, and sculptural works, the artists respond to their residencies in Ireland, where they gathered stories, materials, and inspiration.

Exhibition continues from 17/01/2026 to 24/02/2026.

Emerging artist James Moonan presents his first solo exhibition, featuring award-winning recent work alongside pieces made throughout his childhood. Growing up with autism, he drew creative inspiration from picture book illustration and children’s animation. This exhibition celebrates his artistic journey and the imaginative world of wonder that captures youth and childhood.

Edel Murphy, CEO and Artistic Director says that ‘twixt takes its name from the notion of being in between, at an interval and interweaving. Recipients of our d/Deaf and Disabled Support Fund grant programme have used the funding to deliver new pathways towards their own goals, some artists pursuing experimental directions or new ambitions – each at their own stage of development and discovery between concept and realisation.